...Seeking Clarity In A Murky World...

Walking With Zeke: a familiar story
by Chris Clarke of Creek Running North

"Zeke could wake me from a sound sleep by staring silently, his desire fully infiltrating my heart. A thousand times, in play, he would lunge for my face and snap, his bite strong enough that it would have disfigured me if he had not stopped short by a quarter inch. And I never flinched once, even when his whiskers grazed my face. I trusted him implicitly, and he me."

From the introduction of Chris Clarke's recently completed book, Walking With Zeke, "a moving naturalist’s journal about an aging dog, the people who loved him, and the wildlife-filled neighborhood in which he spent his last months."

In full disclosure I must say that, though I never actually met him, I knew Zeke - I was his friend. One of many who got to know him through the tales of love and adventure, pain, sickness and sorrow so wonderfully told by Chris over the years. From that familiarity I can assure you that this is a walk well worth taking.

Softcover, 218 pages, $17.95 US, ISBN 978-0-6151-9611-4.

You'll soon be able to order the book through online bookstores and local independent stores, but it's available now right here.

 
And two more...

It's a Jungle Out There: The Feminist Survival Guide to Politically Inhospitable Environments
by Amanda Marcotte of Pandagon

From the Editorial Review on Amazon:

For all of you humming “I Will Survive” while watching the political debacles gracing the evening news, when getting an earful from your Limbaugh-loving brother-in-law, or as you’re ducking into the bathroom to avoid the date espousing the wisdom of those Mars versus Venus books, this book is for you.

It’s a Jungle Out There gives all you smart, independent women out there the funny pranks, witty comebacks, and stalwart sources of strength you need in these trying times. With her tongue firmly in cheek and her middle finger stuck straight up in the air, Amanda Marcotte (of Pandagon.net) takes you on a tour through the perils that await any feminist who must navigate day-to-day life in the U.S., from the abstinence-only classrooms to the glass-ceiling of the office world.

Sure to be as snarky and ironic as the writing at Pandagon itself, the book is available (or will soon be) from Amazon here.  Softcover, 200 pages, $11.16 US

Heads in the Sand: How the Republicans Screw Up Foreign Policy and Foreign Policy Screws Up the Democrats
by Matthew Yglesias of The Atlantic Magazine

From the inside flap (via Amazon):

In Heads in the Sand, fast-rising political observer and commentator Matthew Yglesias reveals the wrong-headed foreign policy stance of conservatives, neocons, and the Republican Party for what it is—aggressive nationalism, or, to be impolite, a new version of old-fashioned imperialism. He then examines how Democrats and progressives have responded to the conservative agenda, from mistakenly labeling it isolationism to repeated calls for big, bold, new ideas and the failure to actually produce any.

Writing with wit, passion, and keen insight, Yglesias reminds us of the rich tradition of liberal internationalism that, developed by Democrats, was used with great success by both Democratic and Republican administrations for more than fifty years. It was, in fact, the foreign policy strategy that revived Europe after World War II, established the United Nations, and won the Cold War.

[...]

The forces opposed to liberal internationalism, however, are large and growing. And, Yglesias reveals, they're not all on the far right. He presents a startling revelation of how many moderates, liberals, and even far-left progressives seem more than happy to use America's military might to accomplish their objectives.

Hardcover, 272 pages $17.13 US. Available from Amazon, here.

There we go. I have not read any of these books, although I have read all of these blogs from time to time. Three very different books by three very different writers... something for almost everyone! As I come across more bloggers who have completed books (I'm sure there are are quite a few of them) as well as book writers who blog, I'll let you know who has what ready to go.